Relative clauses

Relative pronouns (e.g. who, whom, whose, which, that) provide a convenient means
of linking sentences together. For example: The commercial lawyer efficiently drafted
the sales contract, which the client read and approved.

Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns include who, whom, whose, which and that. Here are some brief
notes about their use.

Who or whom?
The correct use of who and whom is a matter which many non-native and native
speakers of English alike have difficulty with. The distinction between them is that
who acts as the subject of a verb, while whom acts as the object of a verb or
preposition. This distinction is not particularly important in informal speech but should
be observed in legal writing. For example, whom should be used in the sentence, „I
advised Peter, John and Mary, all of whom are contemplating claims against RemCo
Ltd''. Who should be used in the sentence, „I saw Peter, who is contemplating a claim
against RemCo Ltd''

When who is used, it should directly follow the name it refers to. If it does not, the
meaning of the sentence may become unclear. For example, „I saw Peter, who was
one of my clients, and James‟ instead of „I saw Peter and James, who was one of my
clients''.

Which or that?
Which or that can frequently be used interchangeably. However, there are two rules
to bear in mind.
When introducing clauses that define or identify something, it is acceptable to
use that or which. For example, „a book which deals with current issues in
international trade law'' or „a book that deals with current issues in international trade
law''.

Use which, but never that, to introduce a clause giving additional

information about something ( non-defining relative clauses). For example
„The book, which costs €30, has sold over five thousand copies''
and not
„The book, that costs €30, has sold over five thousand copies''.

Who, whom, which or that?

Who or whom should not be used when referring to things which are not human.
Which or that should be used instead. For example
„The company which sold the shares'' is correct.
„The company that sold the shares'' is also correct.
„The company who sold the shares'' is incorrect.
 That should be used when referring to things that are not human, and may be used
when referring to a person. However, it is usually thought that is more impersonal
than who/whom when used in this way. As a result it is better to say „the client who I
saw yesterday'' than „the client that I saw yesterday''.

Exercises
Link these sentences together using relative clauses. You may also need to adjust
the wording and/or word order of the sentences. In some cases you should consider
deleting or replacing certain words and phrases.

(1) Here is a contract. There are many typing errors in it.

(2) This is the burning question. Everyone wants to know the answer to it.

(3) Is that Susan Jones? I saw her CV only yesterday.

(4) Please refer to clause 7 of the contract. It deals with certain force majeure
situations.

(5) We have an intellectual property expert. Her name is Clare Brewster. She
specialises in complex patent infringement cases.

(Forum Legal:English by lawyers for lawyers)